After I Confessed to My Childhood Friend and Got Rejected, I Threw a Game Offline Meetup to Cheer Myself Up, Only to Find Out My Long-Time Gaming Buddy Was Actually the Quiet, Silver-Haired Swedish Beauty Who's the Cutest Girl in School

Chapter 21: Club Entrance Exam Rematch!

Game Research Club clubroom.

Amamiya and Karina were tackling their third club entrance exam today.

Amamiya, operating Rain the mage, protected Dragon Head (Karina) from Sword Master (Kenmochi), who attacked from long range with arrows.

Dragon Head was locked in fierce offense and defense with Sky Music (Amane), and as expected from top players, Sky Music held the advantage.

Since Dragon Head was a greatsword-wielding swordsman, her number of attacks and speed fell short of the fighter Sky Music’s.

“If the attacks don’t hit, they’re all mine ☆”

Sky Music easily dodged the greatsword and landed a powerful roundhouse kick straight to Dragon Head’s face.

A critical hit effect triggered, and Dragon Head’s massive body flew through the air.

“It’s just a critical hit, that’s all!”

Dragon Head quickly regained her footing and charged at Sky Music.

At the same time, Rain from the rear activated an enhancement spell.

Dragon Head’s movement speed surged, and she hammered in a critical hit on Sky Music as if returning the favor.

“An enhancement to boost movement speed, huh? Not bad, Amami-kun…”

Amane smirked as she clacked away at her keyboard.

Having her HP shaved down by a third from that one blow, Amane kept her guard up against follow-ups and put distance between herself and the two.

To cover that, arrows from Sword Master flew in from afar, but Rain blocked them with defensive magic.

“MP is almost gone too… If it runs out, Dragon Head-san will get taken down while waiting for natural recovery… in that case”

Rain dashed to Dragon Head’s side without regard for danger and cast every enhancement spell he had learned.

“Rain-san! Using that many will deplete your magic…!”

“No, this is fine. We’ve lasted this long, so Sky Music and Sword Master’s HP must be down to just scraps like ours.”

Rain spoke calmly as he touched Dragon Head’s greatsword and boosted her attack power.

“If we drag this into a prolonged fight, we’ll lose. Even if it’s reckless, we have no choice but to settle it before their HP and MP recover naturally.”

As Rain said, they had to act right away before those two regrouped, or they would lose just like always.

Even if it was reckless, they had no choice but to go for it.

Dragon Head kicked off the ground and raced toward where Sky Music and Sword Master were.

Dozens of arrows rained down from afar, but thanks to the movement speed boost enhancement, she dodged them with ease.

“Haaaaaaaah!!”

Dragon Head closed into Sky Music’s range and swung down her greatsword with a roar.

Sky Music tried to evade, but she could not keep up with Dragon Head’s superior speed and got bisected in one stroke.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!!???”

Amane tumbled from her gaming chair and rolled around the clubroom.

Amamiya and Karina plugged their ears against her overly loud death cry.

It was a reaction like she had truly lost her life.

Incidentally, Kenmochi showed no reaction, as if he was used to it.

He ignored Sky Music’s defeat and focused on the screen like a pro gamer.

“To take down Sky Music… you’ve both gotten strong. But the fight isn’t over yet!”

True to his word, Sword Master loosed an arrow wreathed in flames.

Dragon Head used her greatsword as a shield to block the flaming arrow.

Thanks to the defense boost enhancement, it did not deal much damage, but taking too many of those would eventually kill her.

Dragon Head aimed at the distant Sword Master and unleashed a flying slash.

But he dodged it with a cool expression.

As expected from an FPS world ranker, he had no intention of getting hit by ranged attacks.

“Haaaaaaaah!”

The moment she released the flying slash, Dragon Head had already closed the distance to Sword Master.

Sword Master fired arrows in rapid succession at the approaching Dragon Head, but contrary to her size, she nimbly sidestepped them.

And finally, the finishing blow—

“You came right to me…”

Kenmochi grinned fearlessly, and they would soon learn why.

The archer job had one means to attack enemies that closed in.

A skill that threw a small bomb after a backstep.

Had he been aiming for that? Sword Master hurled the bomb at Dragon Head, who had gotten too close.

Dragon Head’s HP was down to scraps. A direct hit would kill her.

“I won’t let you!!”

But Rain, who had anticipated it, shielded Dragon Head and exploded.

He spun wildly as he was blasted high into the air and turned into a star.

“Takaaki-kun… thank you!”

Without letting go of her keyboard and mouse, keeping her eyes on the screen, Karina voiced her thanks.

Even if it meant trampling over her fallen partner’s corpse, she had to win no matter what.

“This ends it!!”

Blending into the smoke from the explosion, Dragon Head sprinted at full speed.

She raised her greatsword within striking range.

“Haaaaaaaah!!!”

But Sword Master was not giving up either; instead of shooting his arrow, he gripped it in his hand to counter.

The two attacks crossed, and finally, the fight reached its conclusion.

It was a draw.

Sword Master’s arrow and Dragon Head’s greatsword had dealt damage to each other at the exact same timing, depleting both their HP simultaneously.

The passing condition for the club entrance exam was victory or draw.

The PVP results screen boldly displayed [DRAW], but Amamiya and Karina wore cloudy expressions.

Even though it was a draw, they had gone toe-to-toe with two world-class pro gamers.

It should have been a moment to celebrate, but the two did not.

They simply wanted to win more than anything.

(What demanding guys…)

Kenmochi gazed at the grown pair with a nostalgic look.

(But for gamers, it’s normal to want to win over a draw, even against superiors…)

Kenmochi stood from his gaming chair and picked up the club president Amane, who was still rolling around the clubroom.

“Sorry about that, Kenmochi-chi. The brakes failed, and I nearly rolled off to the edge of the universe.”

“You’re the only one who shows such weird frustration after losing a game…”

“Fufu~, you planning to shower me with praise~?”

Kenmochi sighed in exasperation at Amane, who wagged her idiot hair happily, and turned his gaze to the juniors, who looked like they were at a funeral.

He could not think of any clever words, but for now, he would praise them—

“We… we really gave it our all up to this point…”

“But we still couldn’t beat the seniors…”

The two streamed tears like waterfalls, and it was more serious than he thought.

Karina dangled snot from her nose, and Amamiya pressed a handkerchief to it like a mother, honking it out.

“No, you don’t have to get that down about it…”

“Kenmochi-senpai, it looks like we still don’t qualify to join the Game Research Club!”

“That’s right! We’ll come back after we’ve gotten strong enough to win next time!”

“No… it was a draw…”

“Then, we’ll take our leave here…!”

The two departed with grave faces, like athletes eliminated from a tournament.

Kenmochi wanted to stop them but could not, so he froze in place.

But at last, the president moved.

“Wait wait—hey! Boy and girl!”

With tremendous jumping power, she leaped over their heads, landed with a spin.

She bonked her head on the door, held back tears, and the president “Amane Shiori” blocked their path.

“Hey, you punks, hey! You looking down on me and Kenmochi-chi? Hey!”

She menaced them, but her small height made it look cute, like a small animal desperately threatening.

However, her inexplicable seriousness in absolutely not letting them pass conveyed itself, and they read the air and stopped.

“Amane-senpai…”

“Amami-kun and Karina-chan are joining the Game Research Club!”

“But it was a draw…”

“Listen, Amami-kun, bragging here, but me and Kenmochi-chi hardly ever get beaten in PVP! Like, super ultra rare level hardly ever! And you killed us, even if it was a draw! Feel honored, you blockheads!”

Amane gave a speech on a line that was exquisitely unclear whether to be moved or to laugh.

But for some reason, her words solidly resonated in the two’s hearts.

“This club is already your place. You can chill energy drinks in the fridge… cool your bodies with the AC… but watch out for colds, cool off a lot… got it?”

“Yes!!”

(What…)

Amane puffed out her nonexistent chest, the moved juniors, the baffled Kenmochi.

“Come on! Jump into the boss’s chest! My sweet juniors!”

“Amane-senpai~!!”

Amane, light enough to be scooped up in a hug, the crying juniors, Kenmochi heading to the staff room for their club application forms.

Amamiya and Karina’s Game Research Club life began now.